ViaSana is a specialised centre for movement and pain complaints in the Netherlands. The clinic provides highly personalised and organised orthopaedic care. We asked Mike Gabriel a number of questions about the deployment of Patient Journey App at Viasana. Mike has been working at ViaSana for over 10 years and is responsible for marketing and communications at the clinic.
Mike is responsible, amongst other things, for the online presence and customer satisfaction surveys at the clinic, and sees a lot of challenges in improving communication with patients. "How can you clarify and improve communication with the patient? That is really something that has been improved since we started working with the app"
Mike told us that: "The idea of using an app to better inform patients originated from customer satisfaction surveys. It often emerged that patients did not know when to start with physiotherapy or when they were allowed to work again. This I found strange, as everything was described in the patient information brochures. I then started thinking about how it can be ensured that the information is well received. That is how the idea of using an app came about"
"The patient is better informed and knows what he/she needs to do and at exactly what time". Mike shared with us. ViaSana has conducted research into the use of the app among their patients, which showed that 70% of their patients use the app.
Here are a few brief examples of the regular patient feedback that Mike receives:
Mike tells us that "When the patient is satisfied, we are too. When the patient is better informed, this is a huge advantage for us. The patient knows where he or she stands and we can be rest assured that the information is delivered at the right time." In addition to informing and guiding patients, ViaSana has also developed a pain coaching program within the app that helps knee arthroplasty surgeons treat patients with respect to their experienced pain after surgery.
Research into the Pain Coach shows that by using the app patients actually experience less pain, meaning that they also are having to take fewer painkillers!
Once the app has been created and published on the app stores, it is very important that healthcare institutions promote the app so that patients can easily access it. Mike informed us that "Our app is actively promoted in various ways. We clearly promote the app on the ViaSana website. Patients often look at the website and thus see the app. Before you are operated upon, you always have a conversation with the patient assistant. The patient assistant actively draws the patient's attention to the use of the app. We also have large posters of the app in the consulting rooms. What works very well is that a few days before the patient is operated, they receive an e-mail about the app. In this mail you will find a button to the App Store / Google Play Store. This way the patient can immediately download and use the app. This works incredibly well and also explains why the percentage of users is so high."
"A link with the EHR system would obviously be great! That is by far the most important. It would also be perfect if photographs of the patients wound were uploaded to the app and the EHR system simultaneously. This way you would have everything in one place!"
(We're on it Mike!)
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